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Photo: Raju. V.

Rare treat Given a chance, orphan and street children will also celebrate their childhood

“The idea of hosting a party or sauntering in a cosy retreat to re-kindle romance felt monotonous and hollow. We were eager to break from the tradition and lend a meaning to the occasion,” says the young couple about the experience, which tastes ‘mighty sweet’. “It is only a slight deviation - instead of feeding our mouth all the time, we chose to feed our soul.”

It’s not unusual anymore. Not that it was in the first place. Surprising though but an increasing number of people are opting for this obscure choice by joining the crowd of individuals donning the role of a Good Samaritan.

Surender Sinha, who works for a corporate company, regularly visits Ches+, a trust run by an NGO for rehabilitation of AIDS-affected and infected persons at Ajit Singh Nagar. Besides sponsoring education of two girl children, he tries to motivate colleagues to do some charity. Ajay Dev, a dentist who runs a clinic at Benz Circle was only too happy to fund engineering course for an orphan girl who secured a seat in Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University but did not have financial means to pursue the course. Without batting an eyelash, he paid the initial sum of Rs. 40,000 and offered to bear the monthly fee as well.

A swell in the breed of people like Satyanarayana Rao, a medical practitioner in the local Government General Hospital who sponsors the education of a girl, orphaned by AIDS that engulfed her entire family, is a welcome change. Commitment to humanitarian causes is widespread today. The emerging genre of ‘mini philanthropists’ who drive home the point loud and clear –that you don’t have to be a big shot to aid the needy, or absence of the public glare does not diminish the impact of the contribution, does not believe in mourning how sad the life is despite having every amenity at one’s disposal.

“There is no point in submerging oneself in a frenetic lifestyle simply to keep boredom at bay. Educated women can teach children from the disadvantaged classes or join an NGO running such programmes. Any skill can be extended to make a more meaningful contribution to society at large,” says Gayathri N., basking in a newfound sense of contentment. “Children, rich or poor, want to be liked for who they are and not for what they have. Most children brought at the rescue shelter are victims of intense grief, emptiness, anger, confusion and heaviness that often results in low self-esteem. It is good to see attempts to bring a smile on their faces,” says Thomas Koshy, Director of Navjeevan Bal Bhawan, an NGO that runs the night shelter. An expert in taming their raucous mindscape, Koshy says it’s easy to understand why people worry that childhood is dying.

The trendsetters are happy to have a moratorium on a life of ostentation to re-discover themselves and play out different possibilities that will open windows of opportunities for the needy.

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